Growing up so close to the English South East coast has played the most important part in my exploration of design through clay and porcelain. I immediately took to this medium at the young age of 12. I learnt the basics of coiling, slabbing and pinching, to make some interesting first pots. My next opportunity was at 15yrs when I was made aware I could study ceramics for one of my exams. Joy! I spent as much time in the school pottery as possible. Pottery and biology were my two favourite subjects. Skeletal structures most certainly have a part to play in my designs.

I honed my throwing skills at Kent Institute of Art and Design.

At Cardiff I made a conscious decision to concentrate on sculpture. This is when I discovered just how much the sea and coastline, where I spent hours of my childhood, resurfaced within the pieces that evolved as I worked through various projects on my BA course. Geoff Swindel, Alan Barrett-Danes, Pete Castle and Mick Casson, were a great combination to encourage my thought processes, work on my techniques and evolve my ideas. Very happily this led to me receiving a First Class Honours Degree.

On leaving university I worked full time for a local potter, production throwing, and also sold my own work at craft fairs. It wasn’t long before I found I greatly missed the excitement of creating sculpture and journeying into my own unknown. I thrived on the gathered momentum the more I experimented with forms and ideas.

I now make a mixture of sculpted vessel forms and purely sculptural Seapods. The techniques and glazes gel the pieces into a coherent bond. They all look perfectly placed in each others company. They are from the same family.

Circumstances and situations can move us to experience a full spectrum of emotions as we journey through life. I see the Seapods diving in the deep ocean, free and with a joie de vivre. They are at once powerful and fragile, balancing strength with gentle compassion in their serenity. Formidably resilient, yet beautifully unshielded.

I have had the pleasure of teaching master classes in India and the UK. Exhibitions have included England, Scotland, Wales, Netherlands, Germany and China.

My work travels all over the world through commercial and private commissions. 

Having spent over forty years working with clay, this wonderful material, the ability to work three dimensionally continues to excite and amaze me. The progression of my work moved me to start experimenting with porcelain about ten years ago. This was a baptism of fire for the techniques I use! An engineering challenge. I persevered and found this new material proffered translucency and light complimenting my techniques and pierced surfaces. I thrive on pushing boundaries and seeing what I can achieve. I am still learning throughout the processes of throwing, sculpting, glazing and firing. I find that porcelain interprets my designs fluently.

I am also designing outdoor sculpture again, and enjoying the freedom of making larger pieces in stoneware.

I live a short distance from the South East Coast. With a wonderful group of friends I swim practically every morning at 7 throughout the year, this is more spasmodic these days, I've taken up wingfoiling on the sea instead. I am spoilt for inspiration.

These first pots are from 1982 when I was first getting to know clay and had school exams to work towards.

The images provide snippets in chronological order showing the changes in my work over the years with the underlying continuity that has remained and developed.